Beware of VRBO as an owner. VRBO doesn't protect you. This happened to us.

[Ski-Dad]

I have a beach house I have been renting out for years on VRBO. I have never had an issue. VRBO allows the owner to set the payment schedule. I have set my refund policy as "Strict", meaning no refunds. I require a $500 deposit on booking with the balance due 30 days prior to the scheduled rental.

I may have been lucky with avoiding scammers, but the $500 deposit on booking which is usually months ahead filters that stuff out. The payment of balance 30 days prior also allows a buffer.

I have rented lots of places on VRBO over the past ten years. Most require 50% on booking with the balance either 30 or 60 days prior to the rental.

In the case of my beach house, its your problem if you need to cancel last minute.

 

[Laurie]

The entire thing is so ridiculous because VRBO is saying we should make sure that the renter and the person who paid via credit card are the same person. VRBO DOES NOT tell us the name of the person who paid, only the name and address that are going on the reservation. So that sounds ridiculous to me. They are talking in circles. To force people to use their payment processing and then not taking any responsibility, it's just so nuts.

We rent a beach condo thru VRBO and haven't ever had a problem. When we receive notice that $ has been deposited to our bank (a few days after card has been charged), the cardholder's name is displayed. Since we require advance payment, there's plenty of opportunity to notice if names are different, and sometimes they are, because extended families often rent, or spouses with different last names, or even groups of friends. Not sure why this isn't true in your case -- are you sure it's not?

 

[silentg]

I have not rented VRBO and been advised to be careful with Homeaway too.
We did have a bad experience with Expedia staying at a B&B on Cape Cod. We got a two night stay which included breakfast. When we arrived no one was there to check us in, we asked a guy who was washing his car. He brought us to the poolside bar, where his mother was enjoying cocktails and gave the maid our key to check us in. We were told to come to breakfast at 8:30 the next morning. When we saw the room it was old but comfortable. The next morning no breakfast, no staff, others were baffled too. We checked out sort of by leaving the key in the door lock and called Expedia , after trying to call the number of the B& B , the grumpy guy hung up on me. When Expedia called he hung up on her too. Expedia gave us a refund and we found another place to stay but never a B& B again.
We should have got a clue from the For Sale Sign on the front lawn.
One of life’s lessons.
Silentg

 

[rickandcindy23]

Hello from the Chargeback Team,

We are contacting you today to inform you that a chargeback has been issued by a guest who made a payment to you. The card holder is claiming that he/she did not authorize or participate in the transaction in question.

A Chargeback happens when a cardholder disputes a charge on his/her credit card through their issuing bank. The full or partial transaction amount is immediately withdrawn from the merchant’s account and deposited in the cardholder account in the event of a chargeback dispute.

Chargebacks are rare but unfortunately do happen from time to time. However, we have a dedicated and knowledgeable team to assist you should you choose to dispute this Chargeback.

If you wish to proceed with a dispute of the chargeback, we may be able to do so by gathering some of the documents mentioned below. Please be aware that this matter is time sensitive. Consequently, we do need to receive all requested documents by June 7, 2019.

Recommended Documentation
· Signed rental agreement/copy of cancellation policy

· Detailed description of goods or services that were provided

· Copy of any documents that confirm the guest and the cardholder are the same person, e.g. Any identification or registration documents provided at Check In or other online verification you performed on the guest

· Screenshot of the "I Agree" button where the guest must click this box to agree to the terms and conditions of the rental agreement

· Rebuttal letter addressing the guest's claim, including any attempts made by the property to resolve the matter directly with the guest

· Copy of credit receipt, if a refund has already been issued

If you wish to accept this chargeback, please provide a brief explanation of why this chargeback should not be disputed. We will not pursue this case further and accept the chargeback on your behalf.

As mentioned above, through the chargeback process, the credit card holder has automatically been refunded. Please do not process any refund to your guest, as this may result in the credit card holder receiving the refund twice. You will receive a separate notice regarding the debit or offset to your account.

We look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

The VacationRentPayment Chargeback Team

 

[rickandcindy23]

The language in the above letter is ridiculous. It's double speak and no option to say, "I have proof that this person stayed there because the resort required a driver's license and credit card to check-in under the name you told me to add."

First, the woman stayed there and our daughter saw posts on her FB page of her in the unit, bragging about how nice the resort was. Second, she has several last names and goes by all FOUR, yes FOUR, and I would post them here, but I am afraid that would be a violation of some kind and might hurt our daughter's case against this woman. This is a huge cost to us because she stayed two five-night stays and is disputing both. She was already there and then asked for additional nights through VRBO.

This is what happens when companies like VRBO decide they are not making quite enough money with the listing fees and that they need to make money on the payment side as well. It's tough to rent timeshares through these sites because they require that you keep a calendar, but if you have a week that is Sat-Sat and a consecutive week that is Sat-Sat, you don't want to rent Wednesday-Saturday to someone because you have a full week.

 

[heathpack]

We had a crazy experience as a renter just today on HomeAway which is the same as VRBO.

I’m racing two bike races in Albuquerque and my original plan was to drive to Albuquerque on Thursday, race Sat and Sun, then head to Santa Fe after for a 6 day vacation. But I also have to go to Phoenix next week for a work conference and decided to try to link the trips and go to Albuquerque a week ahead of my race.

Not much lodging available because my races are part of a huge multi sport event with 14000 registered athletes.

I found a HomeAway rental, played phone tag with the owner re: some minor questions, then finally just booked the place because I didn’t have time for more rounds of phone tag.

I got my rental confirmation yesterday, then cancelled my original B&B reservation today. Finally had a few free moments and called the home owner with my questions, nothing that was a deal breaker. The first thing she says to me is that we have to check out early, at 9am instead of 11am. The six page rental contract probably brought up the 11am check out four or five times, so I was taken aback. That’s when I’ll be racing so we can’t check out then.

She tells me she has another renter checking in at 4pm, and she can’t turn the place over that quickly. What? Why set up your check in and check out times like that, if it’s not doable?

I’m scrambling on the phone to figure out my options- wondering if I can get my cancelled reservation back (accommodations are tight, not sure that will be possible), can I book some other house, can I figure out a way to check out by 9, when I think she’s starting to say she’ll just cancel my reservation when the line goes dead. Did she just hang up on me? Or was it a dropped call?

I call her back and get her voicemail yet again. While I’m leaving her a message, I get an email that she cancelled my reservation.

Of course she only issues a partial refund, so I have to call HomeAway to get that straightened out. My B & B was no longer available. Only one other rental house available for our dates, of course more expensive. So I just booked it. Will file a formal complaint with HomeAway but I doubt much will come of it.

So it cuts both ways: HomeAway/VRBO is sucky for renters as well as property owners it seems!

 

[DannyTS]

i am sorry to hear you have a problem with the owner, I hope you will get satisfaction from Homeaway. But i fail to see how your case and the OP's are similar, at least not at this point. Rickandcindy23 real issue is with Homeaway, not with the renter. That fact that the renter did what he did is secondary in this case, the main issue arises from Homeway did not do its job and did not verify that the payment was coming from the actual renter. In your case at the other hand, you have an issue with the owner not with Homeaway.

At the same time, if your point is that there must be an equal number of bad renters and bad owners out there, you must be right.

 

[heathpack]

i am sorry to hear you have a problem with the owner, I hope you will get satisfaction from Homeaway. But i fail to see how your case and the OP's are similar, at least not at this point. Rickandcindy23 real issue is with Homeaway, not with the renter. That fact that the renter did what he did is secondary in this case, the main issue arises from Homeway did not do its job and did not verify that the payment was coming from the actual renter. In your case at the other hand, you have an issue with the owner not with Homeaway.

At the same time, if your point is that there must be an equal number of bad renters and bad owners out there, you must be right.

Hi Danny, it’s something called a conversation. Friend A says one thing (yes Cindy and I are friends in real life), friend B responds on the same general subject but possibly a different aspect of it. Typically friends C and D might be listening and reply about related experiences they had- possibly with the specific company being discussed, or possibly with some other way they got ripped off while renting a timeshare out, or possibly with an issue they had renting a unit by some other mechanism. That’s the nature of the way humans exchange ideas.

<I’m ribbing you, FYI>

I actually think these are related issues. HomeAway/VRBO is in business for themselves. They’re not looking out for the renter or the owner. My guess is that they go along with chargebacks not because they think it’s good practice for their renters but because the credit card companies require it as part of their terms of service. Based on my experience today, I don’t think HomeAway/VRBO really gives a hoot about the renter- they told me the owner who cancelled on me was being “kind” and had agreed to refund my money. Gee thanks.

I asked them exactly what a confirmation meant, if I can’t cancel on the owner without penalty but the owner can cancel on me with zero consequence to her. There really was no answer to that because the reality is that your confirmation means nothing as a renter, your rental can just be cancelled out from under you. HomeAway doesn’t give a flip.

Two sides of the same coin.

 

[rickandcindy23]

S, so sorry you had a problem with a HomeAway rental. It's ridiculous to require that people check out at 9 AM. That is way too early. I hope you get something nice for your stay.

I agree that HomeAway is not looking out for anyone, renter or owner. They are just making a lot of money, and it's a huge business.

 

[heathpack]

S, so sorry you had a problem with a HomeAway rental. It's ridiculous to require that people check out at 9 AM. That is way too early. I hope you get something nice for your stay.

I agree that HomeAway is not looking out for anyone, renter or owner. They are just making a lot of money, and it's a huge business.

We found another house (more expensive and less convenient of course). A little against my better judgement, since this experience really has illustrated the fundamental flaw is using a business like this as a renter. I assumed HomeAway customer service would be existant if there was a problem but so far I’m not impressed. Reading last night, I learned they have a Book with Confidence guarantee- if the owner cancels on you, and you need to book something else more expensive, HomeAway is suppposed to cover the cost difference. So I’ll work on that, but I’m not holding my breath. Customer service so far has been barely intelligible (heavy accent) and illogical (owner is kind to give you your money back). My expectations are low.

I’ll give them a chance to live up to their guarantee but if they don’t, between hearing your experience and living mine, I will just delete the apps from my iPad and forget about using them in the future. These booking sites seem great until you realize they’re taking money for being a middleman with no commitment to anybody (owner or renter) to doing a good job as a middleman. They sell the concept that they a big company that provides some sort of protection to all parties in the rental process but I discovered a lot of internet complaints like mine and yours when searching last night to understand my recourse. It sounds like HomeAway commonly does nothing much to help either party when stuff like this happens- they go through the motions but little comes of it.

In fact, I think sites like HomeAway or VRBO make things worse for the process- they connect two people who are only communicating through their site. In your case, you probably would have personally caught the credit card discrepancy but they took away you’re ability to do so. In my case, I wouldn’t have cancelled our other reservation if I didn’t have a confirmation from HomeAway which made me believe the booking was complete, when in fact the owner in her mind was still negotiating the rental terms. If I was working directly with her, the rental could not have been confirmed until she was done negotiating terms.

Live and learn. Some of these modern approaches to doing things seem great. Until something goes wrong and the flaws are revealed. Thanks for posting your experiences, I’m renting my own timeshares out more and more and had wondered if AirBnB or the like made sense. My impression was no, too expensive. But now I can see that beyond that, there is also the chargeback issue, something that I hadn’t really considered. You’re forced to take a credit card payment, whether you’d normally do that or not.

 

[DannyTS]

Hello from the Chargeback Team,

We are contacting you today to inform you that a chargeback has been issued by a guest who made a payment to you. The card holder is claiming that he/she did not authorize or participate in the transaction in question.

A Chargeback happens when a cardholder disputes a charge on his/her credit card through their issuing bank. The full or partial transaction amount is immediately withdrawn from the merchant’s account and deposited in the cardholder account in the event of a chargeback dispute.

Chargebacks are rare but unfortunately do happen from time to time. However, we have a dedicated and knowledgeable team to assist you should you choose to dispute this Chargeback.

If you wish to proceed with a dispute of the chargeback, we may be able to do so by gathering some of the documents mentioned below. Please be aware that this matter is time sensitive. Consequently, we do need to receive all requested documents by June 7, 2019.

Recommended Documentation
· Signed rental agreement/copy of cancellation policy

· Detailed description of goods or services that were provided

· Copy of any documents that confirm the guest and the cardholder are the same person, e.g. Any identification or registration documents provided at Check In or other online verification you performed on the guest

· Screenshot of the "I Agree" button where the guest must click this box to agree to the terms and conditions of the rental agreement

· Rebuttal letter addressing the guest's claim, including any attempts made by the property to resolve the matter directly with the guest

· Copy of credit receipt, if a refund has already been issued

If you wish to accept this chargeback, please provide a brief explanation of why this chargeback should not be disputed. We will not pursue this case further and accept the chargeback on your behalf.

As mentioned above, through the chargeback process, the credit card holder has automatically been refunded. Please do not process any refund to your guest, as this may result in the credit card holder receiving the refund twice. You will receive a separate notice regarding the debit or offset to your account.

We look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

The VacationRentPayment Chargeback Team

What i find annoying about this letter is that they are asking you to provide documents that are clearly in their possession (like the rental agreement, signed probably probably through their website), not to mention that they require you to provide docs that the guest and the cardholder are the same person!

 

[jules54]

Cindy tell your daughter to keep at it provide everything they want. I believe the credit card resolution department is in Ireland. Credit Card disputes always to the charge back to begin with. Both sides provide the information they want and then a decision is made. It might take a bit but I think you'll get the decision.
On the original booking it should have the name of the credit card holder and what credit card they used for payment. You already have the renters information.
I would have thought a credit card company would have notified the card owner of that kind of purchase if it was usual.
Whoever posted the owner is renting the days to VRBO is totally wrong. The owner is renting the days through VRBO the site is nothing but a marketing and payment site. Renters use the site because they trust the name because it is well known. You can still get screwed using the site. Good Luck I hope you get your money back which I believe you will. Please keep us posted.

 

[rickandcindy23]

When our daughter put it on Facebook and lots of people made comments, VRBO contacted her, and the conversation was still not satisfactory, but the guy at least listened and was not a robotic human being like Yapstone, which is the credit card processing system that will not disclose the name of the person whose credit card was actually used. She wants to do her own investigation.

The woman who stayed in the unit, the guest our daughter added to the reservation, took pictures of herself in the Grand Desert unit and posted on FB. She has several aliases, but the credit card she used was a Japanese credit card holder (different name, of course).

 

[silentg]

It’s very nervy of the renter to dispute the charges of the rental, especially after posting photos of herself in the rental on vacation.
Not wanting to sound like a broken record, but we have had the best exchanges and rentals going thru TUG marketplace, so far no problems.
More of us need to use TUG for buying, selling, renting and exchanging.
I hope you get this resolved to your daughters satisfaction. I steer clear of B & Bs and VRBO. Once burned twice shy!
Silentg

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

Not VRBO or HomeAway, but there is a story where a few black guys took an AirBnB in NYC. The owners lived downstairs. The men were asked to "keep it down", which they complied, then the woman owner became irate and called them "monkeys" and said they would rob her (caught on video). In the end, AirBnB found the men another place to stay and ended the couple's contract. In that case, the rental company made a bad situation better.

TS

 

[cali-gal]

If not already mentioned, keep screen shots of the Facebook pages you mentioned regarding the renter enjoying your daughter's property. Also, I frequently read elliott.org, which is a great resource for issues such as this. They have appropriate contact numbers, and can apply pressure to VRBO to do the right thing as they have numerous times. Good luck!

 

[Tia]

Sure reads like Fraud to me and VRBO is complicit. It's also distracting from OP topic to read other peoples unrelated stories

 

[jpechlin]

Vrbo owners beware -- you are not protected from fraudulent charges made by a renter. VRBO requires owners to use their payment-processing company, will accept a credit card with a different name from the renter (without the owner's knowledge), and if the cardholder disputes the charge after the renter has already stayed, you are the one out the money and VRBO will do nothing to help you.

I am currently facing a battle with VRBO over someone who stayed at one of my resorts for TEN days. You can imagine the cost for ten nights in a beautiful two-bedroom condo, and how this hurts me. The most frustrating part is there is no guarantee that this won't happen again, because VRBO isn't the one out the cost, and they are not putting policies into place regarding the cardholder name and renter name matching.

VRBO also will not provide me with the cardholder name, so I cannot even research it to see if there is a connection between the cardholder and the renter.

Going through the exact same thing with VRBO. This is now the 3rd time. The first 2 times were cancellations during covid. My refund policy is very lenient, and in both cases they took out cancellation insurance but the insurance would not pay them for the same week cancellation. The insurance is absolutely useless! Vrbo kept calling me and asking me to refund, and I said no because that is the obligation of the insurance company. VRBO said that the customer did not provide proof of positive covid test. Well that was an absolute lie. I had the copies of both tests and submitted them to VRBO and the insurance company. The renters now stayed for 4 days and now they are doing a complete chargeback for the stay and cleaning. This complete fraud and VRBO is not helping.